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MASTERARBEIT
Titel der Masterarbeit
„Emotional Intelligence, Leadership and Organizational Performances“
Verfasser
Branimir Đokić
angestrebter akademischer Grad
Master of Science (MSc)
Wien, 2012
Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 066 915 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Masterstudium Betriebswirtschaft Betreuer: ao. Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Josef Windsperger
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Declaration
Hereby I, Branimir Đokić, declare that this study work is my own original work and that all
sources have been accuratelly reported and aknowledged, and that this document has not
previously in its total or parts been submitted at any university in order to obtain an academic
degree.
_____________________ November 2012 Dipl.-Oec. Branimir Đokić
Acknowledgements I wish to express respect and gratitude to following people:
my parents, Kosara Đokić and Ranko Đokić for their love, support, encouragement and faith
in me through all my life, my sister, Dragana Đokić-Ferraby for her love, support, guidance’s
and belief in me, my nieces, Anastasija Ferraby and Aleksandra Ferraby for their love and
inspiration.
Prof. Mag. Dr. Josef Windsperger, my mentor, for his patience, guidance and assistance
throughout the writing of this paper.
My dear friends, that have been like family to me throughout my study time in Vienna, for
listening to me, giving me advices and sharing precious moments with me. Particularly, I
want to express my gratitude to Vitomir Đorđević BSc, who has been my devoted friend and
guide during my academic time.
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Abstract
The main object of this study is to show the relationship between emotional intelligence
and leadership, and relationship between EI and organizational performance. Apart from
presenting main concept, measurement and the techniques of EI, I also wanted to find out
how the reality looks like in this context. Two good examples are showing that there is strong
and positive correlation between EI and leadership. EI increases organizational performances
like profit, sales and ROI. On the other hand, there is no one theory, which explains EI and its
effects; there is a more then one truth about it. We cannot express EI in just one number, as if
we can do it by IQ; interpretation of the result is more complicated and unclear. Nevertheless,
EI can positively influence on leaders, their subordinates and entire organization. I think that
EI is more then good start in to making changes and motivate people in an organization,
rather then a general solution for all problems and situations that can occur. On contrary, there
are some limitations of EI concept. Firstly, it looks like some old ideas wrapped in new
phrases are being used in modern EI theory. Secondly, many authors failed to define the idea
of leadership, and we know that number of leader is scarce. Finally, authors think that leaders
have flexibility to use different leadership styles, but we know that people in their nature are
inflexible and resistant to changes in behaviours because of their stable personality.
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Table of Contents: Declaration ...................................................................................................................... 3
Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... 3
Abstract ........................................................................................................................... 4
List of Tables: ................................................................................................................. 6
List of Figures: ................................................................................................................ 6
1. Introduction and statement of problem ............................................................... 7
1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 7
1.2 Stating the problem ........................................................................................ 8
1.3 Research methodology ................................................................................. 10
2. Emotional Intelligence ......................................................................................... 11
2.1 Definition of EI ............................................................................................. 11
2.2 A Brief History of Emotional Intelligence .................................................. 13
2.3 Measuring Emotional Intelligence .............................................................. 14
3. Leadership and Emotional intelligence .............................................................. 16
4. Models of Emotional Intelligence ........................................................................ 19
4.1 Primal Leadership ........................................................................................ 19
4.1.1 Dimensions of EI: Goleman’s Leadership Competencies ................. 21
4.1.2 Leadership styles .................................................................................. 24
4.1.3 Resonant leaders with five discoveries .............................................. 28
4.1.4 Self-directed learning ........................................................................... 29
4.2 Other EI Models ........................................................................................... 31
5. EI skills and performance outcomes ................................................................... 32
5.1 The relationship between EI and various aspects of performance .......... 32
5.2 Influence of EI on effective leadership ....................................................... 37
6. Can a person be highly successful without EI? ................................................. 41
7. Limitation related to Emotional Intelligence and Leadership ......................... 43
8. Which is suitable place of EI in leadership? ....................................................... 44
9. Who are successful EI leaders? ........................................................................... 46
10. Conclusion and recommendations ...................................................................... 47
11. List of References ................................................................................................. 51
12. Appendix 1: Abstract in Deutsch ........................................................................ 54
13. Appendix 2: Curriculum Vitae ........................................................................... 55
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List of Tables:
Table 1: Goleman’s six leadership styles………………………………………….…27
Table 2: The roles represented ………………………………………………………32
Table 3: The sectors represented …………………………………………………….33
Table 4: Nationalities…………………………………………………………………33
Table 5: Scale, Alpha Item and R-squared……………………………………………36
Table 6: Correlation Coefficients for the Main Variables of the Study………………39
Table 7: Multiple regression of EI on Effective Leadership………………………….40
Table 8: T test on Mean Scores of EI by Management Level................................…..40
Table 9: Hypothetical Profiles for Different Kinds of People………………………..42
List of Figures:
Figure 1: A Framework of Emotional Competencies………………………………...21
Figure 2: EQ vs. Performance………………………………………………………...35
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"Management is about skills,
leadership is about skills coupled with character."
Patrick and Joan Gebhardt
1. Introduction and statement of problem 1.1 Introduction
Fierce business competition, fast technological changes and intense globalization
require from organizations to create strong competitive advantage in order to outperform their
competition. Therefore, there is strong demand for excellent leaders, which posses more than
just required skills and intelligence quotient to do the job. Apart from these technical skills or
so-called hard skills, they should also have strong soft skills like right values, behaviours,
character, social skills, and emotions to meet these challenges.
Leadership styles have been changing over time, from autocratic to more democratic.
This is due to the fact that workforce have more choices and options than in past.
Nevertheless, it should not be always exclusively one or another style, but rather the
combination of different styles and the competencies. Therefore, it is very important
nowadays to have a balance between different styles and to have additional competencies in
order to deal with new challenges and sensitive issues in working place. Leaders need to
manage an empowered workforce and go more and more beyond consultative, cooperative
and democratic leadership styles. The today’s workforce does not accept an autocratic
leadership style as they have now far more freedom. In addition, there is a growing sense of
democracy and independence in the workforce. Emotional Intelligence has become a vital and
more and more important part of how today’s leaders meet the significant challenges they
face. It seems that Emotional Intelligence can help leaders in an evermore-difficult leadership
role, one that fewer and fewer leaders seem capable of fulfilling. Moreover, especially in the
highest levels in organizations Emotional Intelligence can give developing leaders a
competitive edge. The bottom line is that the manager who can think about emotions
accurately and clearly may often be better able to anticipate, cope with, and effectively
manage change.
Resent studies are showing, that the emotional intelligence accounts for significant
difference on top level of management. Moreover, Emotional Intelligence (EI) dimensions
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were able to influence effective leadership, where 59% of variance in effective leadership was
explained by EI. 1
Therefore, Emotional Intelligence is important ingredient in effective leadership and in the
success of an organization. That is why; managing relationships plays a vital role in
sustaining the human platform that supports productivity and profit. “When people feel good,
they work at their best.”[Goleman, 2002, The New Leaders]
1.2 Stating the problem By writing this work, I would like to find out the answers on some of the following
questions in particular:
• Does emotional intelligence makes such a difference that we can differentiate
between best leaders and the average one?
• Is there a measurement of level of emotional intelligence with which help the
best candidates can be select for high positions? This could help companies in
profiling leader types or indentifying so-called star leaders as McClelland2
proposes.
• How EI affects firm’s results? Otherwise, what is an impact of EI on the
organizations profitability?
• How important is EI for leaders? What is role of EI in leadership? Finally, is it
worthwhile for them to invest their time and an effort to develop themselves
and entire organization in this direction?
• Is there are enough empirical evidence that we can say that EI really makes a
difference?
• Who are successful emotionally intelligent leaders?
• Emotional Intelligence cross-cultural context
I think that there is a need to search available literature and publications about this
topic in order to get the better picture about the positive effects of emotional intelligence and
competence building. The concept of primal leadership suggests the development of essential
competencies of emotional intelligence leadership and helps organizations to transform to
1 Freedman Joshua, Jayne Morrison, Andreas Olsson: Leadership Success and Emotional Intelligence in the Middle East Research: November, 2009. Publication August 6, 2010. 2 McClleland, 1973, Testing for competence rather than for intelligence
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foster emotionally intelligent leaders. According to group of authors3, the primal job of
leadership in its root is emotional. The problem is that many executives are not aware of the
concept and the benefit that it brings to an organization on a long run in general and
financially. Leader’s main task should be to drive emotions into right direction. They should
drive emotions positively and bring everybody’s best out of them. This effect called
resonance, as opposed to dissonance. The key to making primal leadership work to
everyone’s advantage lies in the leadership competencies of emotional intelligence and the
answer on questions: How leaders handle themselves and their relationships? Daniel Goleman
with his books about EI did significant prior research in this area. He suggests four
fundamental dimensions of EI and accompanying competencies. This is the core of personal
development and organization of firm on these principles.
Firstly, there is a need to introduce the concept of Emotional Intelligence in general for
better understanding. I think that there is not enough of awareness about the concept in
schools and in business community. From my individual experience, many students have
heard about EQ (or EI as it Goleman calls), in particular in association with IQ, or as an
opposite side of the pole. They know that it has to do something with emotions and that it is
possible to measure it, same like IQ, but they do not know more than that. It is such a shame
that we do not hear more about these concepts like EI or other useful psychological concepts
at the business schools or at working places. For sure, many corporations offer the courses for
personal development and there are many available seminars and firm programs for this
subject. Nevertheless, there should do more to use potential of this concept for the company,
its employee and in particular for their leaders. Leaders are that driving force that can move
the people and organizations, they can create positive atmosphere and motivate people to
bring the best out of them. Of course, we should not underestimate the financial side of the
problem, as many studies in this area have already confirmed, there is the positive correlation
between emotional intelligence and performance outcomes. Therefore, it can be profitable.
Secondly, after introduction of the concept in the organizations there should be clear plan
of action, how to implement EI in an organization, on which levels, how to measure
performance and what are expected outcomes. There has to be distinction between the use of
EI on individual and organizational level. Everybody can participate on this project, in order
to increase individual and organizational skills. On individual level, we can improve the
communication, understanding and coordination can be better. Especially in the times of
turbulence and anxiety, when emotions start to boil, the use of learned EI skills can be vital.
3 Goleman Daniel, Annie McKee, Richard E. Boyatzis: Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence.
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People should enhance their EI competencies continuously and need to improve them all the
time. The Honeymoon effect indicates that after many training for staff the immediate
improvement fades almost entirely within three to six months. EI development should not be
one-time game this should be continuous process.
Finally, the construct of EI has gain recent interest for its potential utility in leadership
development as evidence by the recent increase in the volume of empirical investigations
assessing individual difference among those in leadership positions. There is series of works
that relate EI and leadership and emphasize the crucial contribution of leaders who channels
emotions in positive directions to support high organizational performance. Moreover, there
are scholars who want to link emotion competencies to leadership behaviour and
organizational performance (Hay, 1999).
1.3 Research methodology
Research method will be literature research of published works in the area of
emotional intelligence and leadership. The main job is to read, analyze, evaluate and
summarize academic material about this topic.
Potential outcome of my research is that there will be many positive examples in practice
about the positive effects of emotional intelligence on leadership and their performances,
which could suggest that it is desirable to invest the time and energy into this concept.
Exploratory research methods of literature search, review, and analysis of selected
cases should be main tools for formulation of problem questions. Literature search will
include existing books of leading authors in the area of EI and leadership, publications by
trade journals and professional journals, market research findings publications and the sources
from internet.
There are many years of prior research about topic of EI and its relation with
leadership. Moreover, my diploma thesis that I did in 2007 in Sarajevo B&H, is about the
“Importance of EI in Leadership”. In this work, I tried to bring closer the concept of EI to my
colleagues and possibly to some leaders, and to highlight the importance of bringing these
idea and two disciplines together. I was personally motivated to write about economics and
psychology because of my interest in both disciplines. With this new work, I want to broaden
my previous work with new insights about the effects of EI in leadership, about application of
different EI models, analyse few selected cases and bring up some word of critiques.
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2. Emotional Intelligence
2.1 Definition of EI
Emotional Intelligence refers to the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions.4
It also regulates emotion in oneself and others. Leadership refers to the ability to influence,
motivate and enable others to contribute to the effectiveness and success of the organizations
of which they are members.
Salovey and Mayer (1990)5 defined emotional intelligence as “the subset of social
intelligence that involves the ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and emotions, to
discriminate among them and to use this information to guide ones thinking and actions”.
Why is it that not all intelligent people succeed in life and career? Moreover, what
accounts for the instances wherein people of average intelligence succeed when their more
intelligent counterparts fall short? The answer comes in the form of emotional intelligence.
Researchers and business community wanted to understand what makes the variation when it
comes to differentiating between successful and less successful leaders. They needed to find
out more about human aspect of the organization especially when it comes to international
operations. Prerequisite to lead others has become first to understand and be comfortable with
himself. Emotional intelligence also denoted as EQ or EI. The shortcut EQ is used when the
emotional intelligence tool is referred to. Regardless of the term, emotional intelligence (EQ)
is concerned with understanding oneself and others, relating to people, and adopting to and
coping with immediate surrounding to be more successful in dealing with environmental
demands. EQ is dynamic tool, which continues changing with time, perspective, individual or
environment. Daniel Goleman was first to establish the link between EQ and leadership. He
first described this relationship with his Primal Leadership Model (2002). According to the
theory of Primal Leadership, leaders undeniably play a primordial emotional role in the lives
of others. Thus, the primal job of leadership is rooted in being intelligent emotionally. In
leader-follower relationships, the leader is an “emotional guide” who navigates the course of
uncertainty, threat, clarity, assurance and work It is also the fundamental task of leaders to
create resonance; resonance being “a reservoir of positivity that frees the best in people”. To
4 http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/emotionalintell.htm Search on: 11.08.2012. 5 Salovey and Mayer (1990), Emotional Intelligence (p.189)
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practice emotional intelligence is to assert a conscious effort of awareness and control of ones
self. Also important is how he or she relates to others.6
Emotional intelligence must somehow combine two of the three states of mind: cognition and
affect or intelligence and emotion.
Emotional intelligence newly defined by Salovey and Mayer in 1997 as follows:
Emotional intelligence is ability to perceive the emotions, to accesses and generate emotions,
so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively
regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth.
These four areas are further defined, as follows:
-Indentifying emotions – the ability to recognize how you and those around you are feeling.
-Using emotions to facilitate thought – the ability to generate an emotion, and then reason
with this emotion.
-Understanding emotions – the ability to understand complex emotions and emotional
“chains”, how emotions transition from one stage to another.
-Managing emotions – the ability which allows you to manage emotions in yourself and in
others.
Applications of emotional intelligence in the workplace may include these:
-Career development - If you have a talent for understanding people, and yourself,
perhaps you should consider people-intensive career such as those in the mental health field.
-Management development – Managers who focus on their technical skills do not
manage, they are just in charge. Understanding and enhancing emotional intelligence may
enhance certain management skills and styles.
-Team effectiveness – Teams are more then the sum of individual parts. The glue that
holds teams together may be supplied by emotional intelligence.
Latest definition of emotional intelligence dated 2007 by S.Hein:
Emotional intelligence is the innate potential to feel, use, communicate, recognize,
remember, describe, identify, learn from, manage, understand and explain emotions.7
Definition based on work of Mayer and Salovey and it differentiates in one important point
that emphasizes emotional intelligence as innate potential. Put differently, everybody is born
with a specific and unique potential for these components of emotional intelligence:
Emotional sensitivity, emotional memory, emotional processing ability and emotional
learning ability. This definition is based on innate potential and it makes very important
distinction between this inborn potential and what actually happens to that potential over the 6 Journal of International Business Research, Volume 9, special issue 1, 2010 7 Hein S. 2007 http://eqi.org/eidefs.htm, searched on 26. 08.2012
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person’s life. Some researches suggest that EI can be learned and strengthened, while other
claim it is inborn characteristic.
There are many definitions of emotional intelligence but the basic idea stays the same.
Emotionally intelligent people are aware of their emotions and the emotions of others. They
use that information to guide their thinking and actions.
Some of associations related to emotional intelligence are interpersonal intelligence,
social intelligence, soft skills and empathy. To conclude the part about definition, I will use
the quote by Goleman (1998, p.93) that “Emotional Intelligence is the sine qua non of
leadership”.
2.2 A Brief History of Emotional Intelligence
1930s – Edward Thorndike describes the concept of "social intelligence" as the ability to get
along with other people.
1940s – David Wechsler suggests that affective components of intelligence may be essential
to success in life.
1950s – Humanistic psychologists such as Abraham Maslow describe how people can build
emotional strength.
1975 - Howard Gardner publishes The Shattered Mind, which introduces the concept of
multiple intelligences.
1985 - Wayne Payne introduces the term emotional intelligence in his doctoral dissertation
entitled “A study of emotion: developing emotional intelligence; self-integration; relating to
fear, pain and desire (theory, structure of reality, problem-solving, contraction/expansion, and
tuning in/coming out/letting go).”
1987 – In an article published in Mensa Magazine, Keith Beasley uses the term “emotional
quotient.” It has been suggested that this is the first published use of the term, although
Reuven Bar-On claims to have used the term in an unpublished version of his graduate thesis.
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1990 – Psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer publish their landmark article,
"Emotional Intelligence," in the journal Imagination, Cognition, and Personality.8
1995 - The concept of emotional intelligence is popularized after publication of psychologist
and New York Times science writer Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence: Why It
Can Matter More Than IQ.9
2.3 Measuring Emotional Intelligence
Firstly, is it possible to measure emotions? For many people this sounds impossible to
assign a number to people emotions, qualities, skills and abilities. We are human beings and
not commodities. Nevertheless, people always wanted to know more about themselves and
others and they had to find the way to quantify it. The best way to get good results is to get
independent feedback from others. This should be possible because Emotional intelligence is
just one part of our personality.
Secondly, we have to ask ourselves how we can measure EI. How can we make EI
operational? We can do it with help of test approach. Test approach is also called ability
testing, performance testing or criterion-report testing. This test employs item that ask a
person to solve a problem, and then evaluate the given response according to its correctness in
relation to a criterion.
On contrary, we have self-judgement scales where they ask the individual about his own self-
perception, without any checks to its correctness. With this scales we can measure internal
experiences such as moods and emotions. Finally, ability testing is more desirable for
measuring emotional intelligence then self-judgement scales. Scales can be useful when
measuring moods and emotions in relation to emotional intelligence.
We can differentiate between two valid tests for a measure of emotional intelligence:
1. Specific ability tests that measure key specific ability related to emotional
intelligence, such as the capacity to accurate identify emotions in faces.
2. General integrative test, that measures across a number of specific emotional
intelligence skills to provide an overall picture on an individual’s emotional intelligence.
8 http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/emotionalintell.htm Search on: 19.08.2012. 9 Goleman Daniel, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (1995)
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The question is what EI is and what is best way to measure it. Emotional intelligence
is an ability that exists inside of personality. That is, it is a property of the personality system -
- internal, mental, and functional. There is a variety of proposals as to what kinds of data one
needs to collect in order to establish someone's emotional intelligence. Some people argue
that one should use 360-degree assessments (that is, multiple observers of the target
individual). Others use paper-and-pencil tests. Others argue for self-report data. Still others
argue for ability testing.
"In regard to measuring emotional intelligence – I am a great believer that criterion-report
(that is, ability testing) is the only adequate method to employ. Intelligence is ability, and is
directly measured only by having people answer questions and evaluating the correctness of
those answers." --John D. Mayer
• Reuven Bar-On's EQ-i
A self-report test designed to measure competencies including awareness, stress tolerance,
problem solving, and happiness. According to Bar-On, “Emotional intelligence is a range of
no-cognitive capabilities, competencies, and skills that influence one’s ability to succeed in
coping with environmental demands and pressures.”
• The MSCEIT
Designed for individuals 17 years of age or older and aims to measure the four abilities
outlined in Salovey and Mayer's model of emotional intelligence. Each of ability (perception,
facilitation of thought, understanding, and regulation) is measured using specific tasks.
• Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS)
An ability-based test in which test-takers perform tasks designed to assess their ability to
perceive, identify, understand, and utilize emotions.
• Seligman Attributional Style Questionnaire (SASQ)
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This test, originally designed as a screening test for the life insurance company Metropolitan
Life, the SASQ measures optimism and pessimism.
• Six Seconds EI Assessment (SEI)
The SEI based on the Six Seconds Model of EI consisting of eight core competencies
associated with three macro areas: Self Awareness, Self Management, and Self Direction.
• Emotional Competence Inventory (ECI)
Based on an older instrument known as the Self-Assessment Questionnaire, the ECI
involves having people who know the individual offer ratings of that person’s abilities on a
number of different emotional competencies.
3. Leadership and Emotional intelligence
With his works (1995; 1998), Goleman assessed the link between emotional intelligence
and leadership ability. He researched and analysed 188 companies (primarily large and global
organizations). Aim was to determine personal capabilities among leaders, which appeared to
drive outstanding performance within these organizations, and to what degree they did so.
Personal capabilities clustered in three categories: technical skills, such as accounting and
engineering; cognitive skills like analytical reasoning: and competencies demonstrating
emotional intelligence, such as ability to work with others and effectiveness in leading
change. According to Goleman’s research, emotional intelligence proved to be twice as
important as technical skills and cognitive abilities for leadership jobs at all levels of an
organization. Intellect remained a driver of outstanding performance, and cognitive skills
such as big picture thinking and long-term vision were important, but mainly as threshold
capabilities; entry-level requirements for executive positions.
The purpose of studying the relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership
behaviour is to contribute to the leadership practices literature and to test emotional
intelligence applications for leadership. The role of emotional intelligence in determination of
leadership effectiveness have been examined and the results confirmed that EI is valued more
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highly then technical skills and cognitive skills, especially regarding social skills, and
supported earlier findings that transformational/charismatic leaderships are favoured across
cultures. When researchers discuss the place of emotional intelligence in leadership, they have
senior executives or chief executives in mind. Occupying the role with such heavy
responsibility for so many important resources, often including large number of people does
require integrity, emotional intelligence and other sterling character traits. For this reason it is
not surprise that established large companies usually do not have any twenty-year-old chief
executives in their fleet. As Goleman thinks, "Emotional intelligence increases with age".
There is an old-fashioned word for the phenomenon called maturity. Global corporations and
their leaders operate in an increasingly interconnected business environment. The fact that
business world is becoming increasingly global does not mean that cultural differences are
diminishing. Business success and profitability overseas will rely heavily on the quality of
effective multinational corporate leadership (Adler 2002). On contrary, the chief executives of
large companies think that there is a shortage of global leaders to sustain their multinational
operations. A country culture profoundly influences the behaviour of organizations as well as
behaviour of people within organizations. Prior research has shown that many cross-cultural
differences, such as Hofstedes (1997) collectivism/individualism, may affect organizational
performance. For example, in some cultures, people prefer to act as a cohesive group
(collectivism) rather as individuals motivate primarily by self-interest (individualism).
Examples of collectivist societies include Panama, Colombia, Japan and India, while
individualistic cultures are found in Australia, Germany, Canada and USA (Hofstede 1997).
Furthermore, a nations specific cultural attributes play an important role in determining the
selection of management and leadership style. Effective leadership in one cultural setting e.g.
China, may be ineffective in another. Organizations become more effective when they are
able to identify and foster the appropriate leader’s behaviours for the relevant cultural
situation. Managers are expected to come promptly for meetings in time-focused cultures like
USA, while deadlines may have little importance in less time-focused cultures such as Greece
or Italy. Some cultures, such as India, may display a long-term orientation in terms of
employee rewards and career development, compared to USA, which focus on short-term
recognition and reinforcement. For the global manager to lead effectively in a diverse
international environment, he must recognize cultural differences and learn to integrate
culture and leadership style to his advantage, rather then either attempting to ignore them or
allowing them to cause problems. Prior research has identified the importance of considering
emotional intelligence when selecting expatriate managers, together with study that indicate
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positive relationships between manager effectiveness and the self-awareness component of EI.
Experienced managers familiar with a country culture may incorporate one or more of the
components of emotional intelligence to effectively, match the needs of a particular culture,
thus leading the organization towards desired results. While it is useful to study cross-cultural
differences, it is important as well to assess the extent of similarities between cultures. Prior
research (House 2004) found that several attributes associated with
charismatic/transformational leadership were seen as contributing to outstanding leadership
across of most of the cultures studied. One way to explore cultural similarities in the world is
to study cultural clusters. A cultural cluster is a group of countries that share many
similarities; the countries in the cluster are more like each other then another country form
outside the cluster. To test the proposition linking EI and cross-cultural leadership, the study
surveyed the manager from four cultural clusters (Project Globe10). The Anglo cluster with
USA, Canada, and Australia suggests that charismatic, team-oriented and participative
leadership styles perceived to be the most effective leadership attributes. The Latin European
cluster with France, Italy, Portugal and Spain suggests that charismatic/value-based, team-
oriented and participative leadership are considered the most effective leadership attributes.
The Easter European cluster comprises Greece, Poland, Russia and the best style is
transformational/charismatic and team-oriented leadership. The Southern Asia cluster consists
of India, Iran, Malaysia and the transformational-charismatic and team-oriented leadership are
perceive as the most effective leadership styles. Finally, we have to underline the importance
for global managers to systematically study and understand the cultural environment within
which they operate. Global leaders should attempt to match their leadership styles to various
cultural conditions. Link between emotional intelligence and cross-cultural leader attributes in
Project Globe is not established. Nevertheless, EI trait social skill may be critical to effective
global leadership. The requirement of building long-term relationships among both
multicultural clients and colleagues is a good illustration for social skill, which is defined as
proficiency in managing relationships and building networks with people, and an ability to
find the common ground and build rapport with others.11
10 GLOBE is both a research program and a social entity. The GLOBE social entity is a network of 170 social scientists and management scholars from 61 cultures throughout the world, working in a coordinated long-term effort to examine the interrelationships between societal culture, organizational culture and practices, and organizational leadership. 11 Reilly Anne H. Loyola University Chicago, Tony J. Karounos Loyola University Chicago Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies, Exploring the Link between Emotional Intelligence and Cross-Cultural Leadership Effectiveness
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4. Models of Emotional Intelligence 4.1 Primal Leadership
Daniel Goleman was first author who popularize the term of emotional intelligence
when its book "Emotional Intelligence" became bestseller in 1995. To get to this concept first,
they were asking themselves the following questions. What makes good leader and what kind
of leadership style gets results? The term EI itself was already well known but he managed to
raise it to the level of importance that IQ has for people and business community. Moreover,
he enlarged the importance of the term even over the importance of IQ, because EI should be
this essential ingredient for effective leadership and success of the organization. He thinks
that managing relationships plays a vital role in sustaining the human platform that supports
productivity and profit. "When people feel good, they work at their best" (Goleman et al,
2002, p.14). The idea of intelligence (IQ) that supports attitudes of cold analysis and
production above people’s feelings has long held influence in the modern leadership
environment. Over following period, EI seen as tool for constructive handling of emotions for
personal development and social effectiveness. After this success, came the work of Primal
Leadership in 2002 by Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee, which analysed the role of emotional
intelligence in leadership, and emphasized the critical contribution of leaders who channel
emotions in positive directions to support high organizational performance. The authors
wanted to tackle the application of emotional intelligence principles to the behaviour of
leaders in our institutions and organizations.
They think that fundamental task of leaders is to prime good feeling in those they lead.
That happens when they manage to create resonance that frees the best in people and brings
performance. Hence, primal job of leadership in its root is emotional. This primal dimension
of leadership determines what leaders will do. Leader’s primal task is driving emotions in the
right direction. That means that the emotional task of leader is primal. They should drive
emotions positively and bring everybody’s best out of them. This effect is resonance, as
opposed to dissonance. The key to making primal leadership work to everyone’s advantage
lies in the leadership competencies of emotional intelligence and the answer on questions:
how leaders handle themselves and their relationships. That is why emotional intelligence of
leader is so important for success. 12
12 Goleman Daniel,, Richard E. Boyatzis,Annie McKee. Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence
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They coin the phrase “primal leadership” to identify the foundational principle of
this application—” that the fundamental task of leaders . . . is to prime good feelings in those
they lead. . . .At its root, then, the primal job of leadership is emotional” (p. ix). Passion and
enthusiasm, long held to be essential elements in the leadership process, are products of
attuned emotions emanating from people at every level of the organization (p.Xiii), and not
just a necessary element for those at the top level of the organization. Primal leadership
applies holistically to the organization as a body and reflects the emotional maturity and
balance of the organization as a whole rather then that of the individual in isolation form the
community. Authors use term “attunement” to emphasize non-linear nature of emotional
intelligence. Attunement aims at maintaining the quality of relational health among those who
comprise the team or group. They treat leadership as a function of the group as opposed to
that of the individual. The skills of the individual leader contribute to the process of
leadership, done primarily via emotions (p.3). The "emotional task of the leader is primal"
(p.5) and positions the leader as the emotional guide for the group and establishes the
emotional climate of the group. The group spirit thus led to a state of resonance that brings
out the very best of each member of the group. In this state of resonance, the leadership
contribution of each member becomes a force in an overall effectiveness of the organization.
Main challenges for the writers were, to try to develop these essential competencies of
emotional intelligence in leadership and to help to organizations to foster emotional
intelligence leader. The organizations themselves need to discover the power and the
advantage of primal leadership to cultivate leaders who generate the emotional resonance that
lets people prosper. Many studies of successful companies have been conduct to determine
which personal capabilities drove outstanding performance within these organizations. Based
on that, the capabilities were divide into groups of three categories: Purely technical skills like
accounting, cognitive abilities like analytic reasoning and emotional intelligence like self-
awareness and relationships skill. The competencies models were created based on different
methods of interviewing and panels. They got the list of different skills as ingredients for
different type of leaders. The results showed that emotional intelligence based competencies
play important role in high ranked management level. This results indicate the importance of
sensibility of leaders and the fact that they could distinguish them self from other executive
by high EI. Furthermore, authors calculated that EI contributes up to 80% to competencies
that distinguish outstanding from average leaders.13 The need for emotional intelligence
13 Patterson Hughes & Terrel, Emotional Intelligence In Action: Training and Coaching Activities for Leaders and Managers, Publisher: Pfeiffer (August 24, 2005),
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increases with increased level of responsibility –such as management – and becomes even
more significant when dealing with groups of people or teams (Goleman,, Boyatzis, McKee).
4.1.1 Dimensions of EI: Goleman’s Leadership Competencies
Emotional intelligence presented as a dynamic condition in a leader or organization,
and may be learned by addressing associated emotional competencies. These competencies,
listed in four categories associated with two general domains (Goleman: Primal Leadership p.
39). The model consists of two components mainly personal competence and social
competence.
Figure 1: A Framework of Emotional Competencies14
14 http://www.sonoma.edu/users/s/swijtink/teaching/philosophy_101/paper1/goleman.htm
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1. Personal Competence
a. Self-awareness supported by the ability to read ones emotions and recognize their
impact. It involves accurate self-assessment that allows cognizance of ones strengths and
limits, as well as self-confidence.
Self-awareness is the ability to recognize and understand one’s own moods, emotions, drives
and their effects on others. Self-confidence, realistic self-assessment and often a self-
deprecating sense of humour are among characteristics of self-awareness. In self-awareness
leaders are supposed to be able to recognize a feeling as it happens, to accurately perform
self-assessment and have self-confidence. Goleman’s study (1995) found that effective
leaders are those who demonstrate self-awareness, have high self-confidence as well as able
to assess their strengths and weaknesses. It can be concluded that a high level of self-
awareness that is associated with EI tend to encourage leaders to demonstrate self-confidence,
earn respect and trust from followers. Meisel (2004) found that self-awareness is the greatest
predictor of success in everything people do.15
b. Self-management draws from competencies of emotional self-control,
transparency, adaptability, achievement, initiative and optimism.
Self-regulation or self-mastery is the ability to control emotions, to remain calm, encounter
problem and resistance, manage stress skilfully, finding ways to handle fears, anxieties, anger
and sadness and to stay focused on the tasks performed. Individuals with self-regulation are
able to handle change and being comfortable with uncertainty. Through self-regulation,
leaders can objectively consider the needs of others despite their own immediate feelings.
Goleman (1998) highlighted that qualities of self-regulations are like trustworthiness,
integrity, conscientiousness, self-control, adaptability, innovativeness and taking
responsibility for one’s own actions. A leader with EI is expected to be able to keep disruptive
emotions and impulses (self-control); maintain standards of honesty and integrity
(trustworthiness); take responsibility for one’s performance (conscientiousness); handle
change (adaptability) and be comfortable with novel ideas and approaches (innovation). A
leader with EI would be optimistic and show happiness despite obstacles, setbacks and
failure. According to Sheperd (2004) effective leaders do not let negative emotions (example;
worry, anxiety, fear and anger) interfere with getting things done effectively (Sarminah Samad Dr
2009). 15 Sarminah Samad Dr., Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia, 2009, The Influence of Emotional Intelligence on Effective Leadership Among Managers in Malaysian Business Organizations
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Motivation relates to expanding energy in a specific direction for a specific purpose. It
refers to the emotional tendency guiding or facilitating the attainment of goals. It
encompasses achievement drive (meeting a standard excellence); commitment (alignment of
goals with the group and organization); initiative (acting on opportunities) and optimism
(persistence reaching goals despite set backs). Good emotion will encourage leaders to be
more motivated in the tasks performed. Motivation also involves passion, confidence,
enthusiasm and normally zeal to work not because of money or status but to pursue goals with
energy and persistence. Motivated leaders will have a high desire to achieve and are
constantly optimistic in any situations while unmotivated leaders tend to be pessimistic and
may give up earlier. Highly self-motivated individuals and leaders are result oriented who
have a high drive to meet their objectives and standards (Goleman et al., 2002). Leaders who
have the ability to maintain balance will always keep themselves motivated, optimistic and
hopeful to be a role model and inspire others.
2. Social Competence
a. Social awareness supported by empathy, organizational awareness that enables the
leader to discern the relationships and politics of the organization, and service that meets the
needs of those connected to the organization.
Empathy is a person’s ability in sensing the emotional makeup of other’s feeling and
perspective and taking active interest in their concerns and problem (Goleman, 1998).
Accordingly, empathic people will treat others according to their emotional needs. Empathic
leaders are those who are expert in building and retaining talent; sensitive with diversities;
appreciative of various perspectives and avoid unnecessary conflicts. Leaders who are highly
empathic are also skilled in managing other’s problem. They are able to understand others by
being aware of their needs, perspectives, feelings, concern and sensing the developmental
needs of others. EI helps leaders to recognize and respect subordinates with feelings, opinion,
ideas, unique needs and abilities. Accordingly, empathic leaders help followers to grow and
develop; to enhance their self-images and sense of self worth; and to achieve their needs and
goals through social skills (Sarminah Samad Dr 2009).
b. Relationship management requires developed skills in inspirational leadership to
motivate, influence that allows for persuasion, developing others through feedback and
guidance, change catalyst, conflict management, building bonds that cultivate and maintain
relationships, and teamwork and collaboration that support cooperation and team building.
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Social skills or interpersonal skills refer to a person’s proficiency in managing relationship
with others and building networks. It involves the ability of meeting each other’s needs;
relating to each other over time and exchanging information about one’s feelings, thoughts
and ideas. Other qualities of social skills are effectiveness in leading change, persuading
others, building and leading teams (Goleman 1995). As a fundamental to EI, social skills
relate to leaders who have the ability to influence (induce desirable responses in others
through effective diplomacy to persuade); to communicate (listen openly and send convincing
messages); to lead (inspire and guide groups and individuals); to build bonds (nurture
instrumental relationships, to collaborate work with others towards a shared goal) and to
cooperate (create group synergy in achieving goals). The ability of leaders to manage
interpersonal skills tends to motivate and inspire the followers or subordinates. Effective
leaders can deal with a diversity of people including personalities that are not emotionally
stable, able to develop networks and play organizational politics (Zaslow, 2004).
There is a suggestion that effective leaders will possess at least one competence from
each of the four fundamental areas of emotional intelligence.
4.1.2 Leadership styles
Emotional intelligence is presented as being demonstrated through six styles of
leadership— visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting, and commanding (they
are repertoire of choices).
Pacesetting and commanding styles are useful in some very specific situations but
leaders should apply them with caution. These styles presented not as static styles practiced as
a property of the individual leader but rather as a repertoire of choices that the emotionally
intelligent leader may draw on, as the leadership context requires. The unique elements and
relevant contextual applications of each of these particular styles well defined for the reader
seeking a better understanding of versatility in leadership. This may prove especially helpful
for the developing leaders who practice the pacesetter or command styles, those that conform
to the linear models that deny the value of emotion having a rightful place in the context of
organizational leadership. Authors16 are giving many examples in their book how pacesetting
or commanding leaders managed to change their leadership styles to one of more appropriate
one for specific situations. Best-case scenario is when skilful leaders switch between different
16 Goleman Daniel,, Richard E. Boyatzis,Annie McKee, The New Leaders, 2012
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styles depending on situation. People do not change easily, but this kind of flexibility can
bring positive results and create resonance. Four of these styles-visionary, democratic,
affiliative and coaching- create kind of resonance that boost performance. Pacesetting and
commanding styles are useful for time of crisis and turbulences, e.g. when companies merge,
but on a long run rather destructive and dissonant for working climate, teamwork and
performance. Analysis made on how the climate that resulted from various leadership styles
affected financial results, such as return on sales, revenue growth, efficiency, and profitability.
Results showed that, all other things being equal, leaders who used styles with a positive
emotional impact (resonance) saw decidedly better financial returns than those who did not.
Perhaps most important, leaders with the best results did not practice just one particular style.
Rather, on any day or week, they used many of the six styles, seamlessly and in different
measures depending on the business situation (The New Leaders, p.68).
The Resonant Styles:
The Visionary Leader moves people towards a shared vision, telling them where to go
but not how to get there - thus motivating them to fight forwards. They openly share
information, hence giving knowledge power to others. They can fail when trying to motivate
more experienced experts or peers. This style is best when organization needs a new direction.
Overall, it has a very strong impact on the climate. Visionary style gives people chance to talk
with their executives, to share their dreams and goals, to talk about future and to share
common values. Good leaders incorporate these wishes and visions of their subordinate into
corporate vision, strategies and values. This style builds resonance in a way that moves people
toward shared dreams and impact on a climate is most strongly positive. They articulate
where a group is going, but not know how it will get there, setting people free to innovate,
experiment and take calculate risk. Of the six leadership styles, research suggests that overall
visionary approach is most effective. The result is inspired work. Works well in all business
situations, particularly effective when a business is adrift, during turnaround.
Transformational leaders, those who seek to radical change an organization are those who use
this style the most (p.72).
The Coaching Leader connects wants to organizational goals, holding long
conversations that reach beyond the workplace, helping people find strengths and weaknesses
and tying these to career aspirations and actions. They are good at delegating challenging
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assignments, demonstrating faith that demands justification and which leads to high levels of
loyalty. Done badly, this style looks like micromanaging. It is best to use it when individuals
need to build long-term capabilities. It has a highly positive impact on the climate (p.77).
Good coach has strong EI competence of developing others; he acts as counsellor and has
strong emotional self-awareness and empathy. It has a positive impact on climate.
The Affiliative Leader creates people connections and thus harmony within the
organization. It is a very collaborative style, which focuses on emotional needs over work
needs. When done badly, it avoids emotionally distressing situations such as negative
feedback. When done well, then often used alongside visionary leadership. It is best to use for
healing rifts, getting through stressful situations, improve team harmony, increase morale,
improve communication, or repair broken trust in an organization. Open sharing of emotions
is one hallmark of the affiliate leadership styles. Leaders tend to value people and their
feelings and putting less emphasis on accomplishing tasks and goals, and more on employee’s
emotional needs. In most Asia, Latin America and some European cultures, establishing a
strong relationship is a prerequisite for doing business. The empathy- the ability to sense the
feelings, needs and perspectives of others is fundamental competence here. Use of this style
alone is not good idea because this could lead to poor performance (p80). It has a positive
impact on climate.
The Democratic Leader acts to value inputs and commitment via participation,
listening to both the bad and the good news. When done badly, it looks like lots of listening
but very little effective action. Best used when the leader is uncertain about what direction to
take and needs ideas from competent employees. The democratic style builds on a trait of
emotional intelligence abilities: empathy, teamwork and collaboration, conflict management,
and influence. The listening is key strength (p.88).It has a positive impact on climate.
The Dissonant Styles:
The Pace-setting Leader builds challenge and exciting goals for people, expecting
excellence and often exemplifying it themselves. They identify poor performers and demand
more of them. If necessary, they will roll up their sleeves and rescue the situation themselves.
They tend to be low on guidance, expecting people to know what to do. They get short-term
results but over the long term, this style can lead to exhaustion and decline. Done badly, it
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lacks Emotional Intelligence, especially self-management. A classic problem happens when
the 'star techie' gets promotion to do the job of leader. Best used for results from a motivated
and competent team, like in technical fields, among highly skilled professionals. Pacesetting
makes sense during entrepreneurial phase of a company’s life cycle, when growth is all-
important. This style best used carefully, when company needs high performance and when
deadlines are to meet. The EI foundation of this style lies in the drive to achieve by
continually finding ways to improve performance. There is an absence of crucial EI
competencies like empathy, self-awareness and self-management. Best works together with
visionary or affiliate style (p.93). It often has a very negative effect on climate.
The Commanding Leader soothes fears and gives clear directions by his or her
powerful position, commanding and expecting full compliance (agreement is not needed).
They need emotional self-control for success and can seem cold and distant. This approach is
best in times of crisis when you need unquestioned rapid action and with problem employees
who do not respond to other methods. This style is least effective in most situations with lack
of self-awareness, emotional self-control and empathy. To execute it effectively this style
needs to draws on three EI competencies: influence, achievement and initiative. Executing the
commanding style effectively, requires the leader “to be angry with the right person, in the
right way at the right time, and for the right reason” as Aristotle put it (p.98).
Table 1: Goleman’s six leadership styles17
Coercive Authoritative Affiliative Democratic Pacesetting Coaching
The leader’s modus operandi
Demands immediate compliance
Mobilizes people towards a vision
Creates harmony and builds emotional bonds
Forgoes consensus through participation
Sets high standards for performance
Develops people for the future
The style in a phrase
‘do what I tell you’
‘come with me’
‘people come first’
‘what do you think?’
‘do as I do, now’
‘try this’
Underlying emotional
Drive to achieve, initiative, self-control
Self-confidence, empathy, change catalyst
Empathy, building relationships, communication
Collaboration, team leadership, communication
Conscientious, drive to achieve, initiative
Developing others, empathy, self-awareness
When the style works best
In a crisis, to kick start a turnaround, or with problem
When changes require a new vision, or when a clear directive is needed
To heal rifts in a team or to motivate people during stressful circumstances
To build buy-in or consensus, or to get input from valuable employees
To get quick results from a highly motivated and competent team
To help an employee improve performance or develop long-term
17 Goleman, D, 2000 ‘Leadership that gets results’, Harvard Business Review, p 7-8.
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employees strengths
Overall impact on climate
Negative Most strongly positive
Positive Positive Negative Positive
4.1.3 Resonant leaders with five discoveries “Old leaders can learn new tricks”(p.121). This reveals the authors’ underlying statement
that it is possible to learn leadership skills. It challenges the perception that “leaders are born”
(nature) and posits that leaders can be made through intentional learning (nurture). Old
behaviours are possible to change and emotional intelligence is possible to acquire. Self-
awareness is critical component of these change process, as is honest assessment by others
around the leader. Research referenced reveals that most leaders overestimate the
effectiveness of their leadership; as a rule subordinates rate leader’s skills and behaviours
below what the leader perceives of self. Awareness of this tendency is a necessary enabling of
the process of learning and change that leads to more effective leadership contribution.
The authors18 orders steps to learning in Five Discoveries as follows:
1 The ideal self
This is where change begins. This step asserts, “Connecting with one’s dreams releases one’s
passion, energy, and excitement about life” (p. 115).
2 The real self
Are you a boiling frog? This step reveals the need to remain loyally aware of one’s vision and
the real self to avoid the invisible slide into acceptance and apathy regarding practices and
policies of organizations.
3 A learning agenda
This step emphasizes the need to build improvement plans around the vision of the real self.
Rather than the ought self or those ideals established by another person.
Goals must be owned by the person setting them if they are to be matching with the real self.
18 Goleman Daniel,, Richard E. Boyatzis,Annie McKee., Primal Leadership 2002
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4 Reconfiguring the brain
This step requires dependence upon implicit learning that takes place tacitly in the course of
life and relationships. This sort of learning must be predicated by “three things: Bring bad
habits into awareness, consciously practice a better way, and rehearse that new behaviours at
every opportunity until it becomes automatic” (p. 156).
5 The power of relationships
This step stresses the importance of the people who help one in the journey through the gap
that leads to the envisioned ideal self. This discovery recognizes that established relationships
will often resist the change necessary for one to reach the ideal self-goal. Positive groups and
encouraging individuals who relate with openness and trust provide necessary help in the
process of positive change.
4.1.4 Self-directed learning
The learning process necessarily begins with change in the individual, but Goleman et al.
insist that concentrating on individual change is inadequate to accomplish change toward
creating emotionally intelligent organizations. In order to bring about such change in an
organization or team, it is necessary to focus on the norms and culture reflected in these
groups. This begins with “understanding of the emotional reality and norms of the team and
the culture of the organization” (p. 173), and leads to an ideal vision of the group or
organization. It also assumes that the individuals within the group will share a common vision
with that of the hopeful organization. The book cites the work of James Surowiecki (2005),
relating to the intelligence of crowds being greater than that of individuals. Goleman et al.
insist that this is true only when the group exhibits emotional intelligence. Group emotional
intelligence occurs when resonance marks the state of the group. Unwise use of command or
pacesetting leadership styles by the group leader can neutralize the emotional intelligence of
the group or even on a greater scale, that of a large organization. Collective emotional
intelligence is what sets top-performing teams and organizations apart from average. Such
organizations demonstrate “the same capabilities as emotionally intelligent individuals:
Self awareness, self management, social awareness, and relationship management” (p. 177)
In order to reach such a positive state, leaders must be willing to question the emotional
reality and the cultural norms that underlie the behaviour of the organizations they serve.
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Primal Leadership presents the paradox of changing organizations from the bottom up by
insisting that the principles of the model must first be embrace at the top level of the
organization (p. 219). This requires leaders to “focus on people” (p. 221) and the foundational
bonds that support a healthy working relationship in good times and bad. Top leaders must
demonstrate what the ideal vision looks like as well as ensuring that organizational structures,
job design, relationship norms, and systems and performance expectations are consistent with
the vision. “Creating organizations that are emotionally intelligent is ultimately the leader’s
responsibility”. (p. 222) Primal Leadership recognizes the established maxim that by nature
organizations resist changes. Routine and status quo provide a context wherein people carry
out their professional jobs in established systems that produce minimal resistance and stress.
The development of a new leadership style challenges this comfortable context and requires
learning that leads to fundamental change. Goleman et al. project the necessity of making
leadership development a strategic priority that emanates from the core of the enterprise. The
culture of the organization must be changed. “You can’t ignore culture, and you can’t hope to
change it one leader at a time” (p. 232). Change must be part of a process as opposed to being
the goal of a program. A process addresses change and attunement continually. There is no
terminal point when the process is complete. It addresses the organization holistically by
attending to change at three primary levels with a multifaceted process: “the individuals in the
organization, the teams in which they work, and the organization’s culture” (p. 234). This
approach applies an intellectual understanding of emotional intelligence to organizations by
implementing an action-based strategy that leverages the passion and dreams of its members,
thus creating sustainable change. Social, political, economic, and technological changes in our
society require a renewed emphasis on the application of emotional intelligence in
organizations. People can no longer be viewed as interchangeable parts within our
organizations. The functional focus of leadership that marked the industrial period must give
way to a focus that attends to the emotional and personal dimensions of our work
communities. “Leadership excellence is being redefined in interpersonal terms”(p. 248). The
principles set forth within the book of Primal leadership forcefully challenge long-held
beliefs about management and leadership as a process that has been driven primarily by
analysis and control leading to efficiency. We are compelled to consider the human qualities
that influence the effectiveness of our work communities and organizations that enrich
society. The passion and enthusiasm that moves people forward in organizations, tied to the
human spirit that cannot be managed or controlled without suffering loss to both. Primal
Leadership begins to fill in the blanks in our understanding of what it takes to optimize the
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emotional and relational forces that drive commitment beyond the possibilities of managed
compliance. Goleman et al (2002) understands why emotional and relational resonance
matters—the workforce necessary to a society built around technology no longer responds to
the command and control methods of the industrial era. 19
4.2 Other EI Models
These two prominent models of emotional intelligence including an ability-based
model and a skill-based model differ in their conceptual approach to the application of EI.
The ability model defines EI according to intelligence theory, emphasizing the cognitive
elements of EI and uses a performance-based assessment method known as a MSCEIT
(Mayer, 2002) to discriminate various levels of EI. Particularly, Mayer and Salovey (1990)
defined emotional intelligence as the ability to monitor ones own and others feelings and
emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide ones thinking and
actions.
The skills based model is trait-based and encompasses a broad set of competencies. In this
framework, Bar-On (2005) defines EI as a cross section of interrelated emotional and social
competencies, skills and facilitators that determine how effectively we understand and express
ourselves, understand others and relate with them, and cope with daily demands. A
measurement tool that underpins the skills based model is the Emotional Quotient Inventory
(EQ-I; Bar-On 1997).20
19 The Harvard Business Review Press (2002), Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee Boston. 20 Stein Steven and Papadogiannis Peter, EI of leaders: a profile of top executives, 2008
- 32 -
5. EI skills and performance outcomes 5.1 The relationship between EI and various aspects of
performance
There are numerous studies documenting the relationship between emotional intelligence
and various aspects of performance, but this is one of the first studies of this kind in the
Middle East. The UAE, one of the region’s business centres, is the base for a wide range of
businesses led by an incredibly diverse mix of leaders from all over the globe. Six Seconds
(global) and Six Seconds Middle East conducted this study in partnership with Dubai
Knowledge Village (DKV), the region’s first and largest centre for human resource
management professionals.21
Sample Group
The invitation to participate in this study was sent by email to chief executives, General
Managers, Executives, Managers and Leaders based in The Middle East by Dubai Knowledge
Village as well as to those on the Six Seconds Middle East mailing list. The 418 individuals
who responded by taking the assessment and performance survey range from entry-level
managers to senior executives from a wide variety of organizations.
The sample group is 41% female and 59% male, ranging in age from 18-63 years (mean age
is 35 years); 91% hold university degrees. (Freedman, Morrison, Olsson 2006)
Table 2: The roles represented are (by Freedman, Morrison, Olsson 2006)
Job Level Number Percentage Free-lance 7 1,7% Employee 48 11,5% Manager 204 48,7% Executive 140 33,4%
Entrepreneur 19 4,5%
21 Freedman Joshua , Jayne Morrison, Andreas Olsson LEADERSHIP SUCCESS AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
- 33 -
Table 3: The sectors represented are (Freedman, Morrison, Olsson 2006)
Work Sector Number of respondents Percentage Education 43 10,3%
Entertainment 9 2,1% Finance 60 14,3%
Healthcare 9 2,1% Hospitality/Travel 89 21,2%
Industrial 23 5,5% Other 98 23,6%
Service 40 9,5% Technology 47 11,2%
Participants live in variety of countries in region and represent 51 different nationalities
reflecting the wide cultural diversity of the region. The frequencies of nationalities presented
on next table:
Table 4: Nationalities
Country Number of respondents Percentage Jordan 9 2,15%
Germany 11 2,63% Sweden 11 2,63%
Sri Lanka 12 2,86% USA 12 2,86% Egypt 13 3,10%
Philippines 18 4,30% Lebanon 24 5,73% Pakistan 27 6,44%
UAE 32 7,64% UK 39 9,31%
India 121 28,88% Assessment The assessment is SEI based on the Six Seconds Model of EI consisting of eight core
competencies associated with three macro areas: Self Awareness, Self Management, and Self
Direction.
• Self-Awareness, called “Know Yourself” includes two competencies: Enhance
Emotional Literacy and Recognize Patterns.
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• Self-Management, called “Choose Yourself” includes four competencies: Apply
Consequential Thinking, Navigate Emotions, Engage Intrinsic Motivation and
Exercise Optimism.
• The Self Direction area, called “Give Yourself” includes Increase Empathy and Pursue
Noble Goals.
The assessment provides an overall EQ score, scores for each of the three-macro areas, and
scores for each of the eight competencies for the 12 normative values.
The Performance scale was developed from a questionnaire Six Seconds has used for
previous research22 and expanded for the purposes of this study. Using a 5-point Likert scale
respondents rated themselves on 42 items related to:
1. Effectiveness (completing the right work in the right timeframe)
2. Influence (engaging others in ideas)
3. Decision making (accurately evaluating options)
4. Career (growing professionally, both in skills and in revenue)
5. Relationships (building mutually supportive alliances)
6. Finance (creating prosperity)
7. Health (maintaining physical and mental fitness)
8. Quality of Life (living in a fulfilling manner)
9. Family (developing caring and connected relations)
Respondents are asked to rate their agreement with a series of statements, such as,
“My choices are effective,” “People come to me to get the job done,” “I have a strong
network,” “My career is progressing smoothly,” and “I am financially secure.” The 42 items
form a combined variable called “Performance,” with a Cronbach alpha23 of a = .91 indicating
high scale reliability.
The nine sub-scales of the performance questionnaire have Cronbach Alphas ranging from .57
to .83, indicating that some subscales are effective independently while others are only
statistically meaningful in combination with the whole. (Freedman, Morrison, Olsson 2006).
22 Freedman Joshua, Massimiliano Ghini and Carina Fiedeldey-Van Dijk, “Emotional Intelligence and Performance” www.6seconds.org/sei 2006. 23 Cronbach Alpha is a measure of the internal consistency of the scale; numbers from .55-.65 represent moderate consistency, .66 and higher represent good scale consistency.
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Analysis
A high correlation appeared between the emotional intelligence (EQ) scales and the
performance outcomes. There is a strong positive relationship between EQ and Performance.
Those participants with higher EQ had higher Performance scores:
Figure 2 (Freedman, Morrison, Olsson 2006) EQ vs. Performance To assess the strength of the relationship, a linear regression analysis found in this sample,
EQ is a strong predictor of the Performance variable: F(8) = 73.22, p < .001 (R square = .58).
Put differently, over 58% of the variation in Performance among these Middle East
leaders explained by emotional intelligence.
Variations by Job Level The relationship between emotional intelligence and performance was strongest in the group
of “Entrepreneurs” where over 70% of the variation in performance is predicted by EQ scores.
The relationship is still powerful, but lowest for the group of Middle Managers where 47% of
the variation is performance is predicted by EQ.
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Highs and Lows Emotional Intelligence scores were also compared for those who scored in the top 25% of
Performance versus those who scored in the lowest 25% in Performance. The top performers
have, on average, almost 1.2x higher scores on Emotional Intelligence.
Performance Factors To understand the relationship between EQ and Performance, several of the Performance
subscales were examined separately. This table shows the name of the scale, the Cronbach
alpha3, a sample item from the scale, and the R-squared24 value in percentages.
Table 5: Scale, Alpha Item and R-squared (Freedman, Morrison, Olsson 2006)
Scale Alpha Sample item R²
Effectiveness .58 I am achieving what I've set out to accomplish 44% 25 Quality of Life .68 I feel good about life 34% 26 Relationships .75 I have a strong network 34% 27 Decision Making
.57 I have more priorities than I can handle 49% 28
Health .69 I eat a balanced diet 23% 29 Finance .83 I am financially secure 10% 30 Family .68 I have a healthy work-life balance 17% 31 Influence .66 Others follow my ideas 38% 32 Career .77 I have many job opportunities 30% 33
Final remarks regarding Leadership success and EI
There is a very strong relationship between emotional intelligence and performance; a
very large percentage of the variation in performance predicted by EQ, especially for
entrepreneurs. This finding suggests that the skills of emotional intelligence are critical for
professional success at all levels, and even more critical for those creating new enterprises.
24 R-squared is a measure of one variable’s capacity to predict another variable; the higher the percentage, the more closely the two variables will cluster. A higher R-squared indicates a stronger relationship; 1, or 100%, would mean a perfect match between the two variables. 25 EQ vs Effectiveness: F(8) = 41.48, p < .001, R square = .45, Adjusted R Square .44 26 EQ vs Quality of Life: F(8) = 28.04, p < .001, R square = .35, Adjusted R Square .34 27 EQ vs Relationships: F(8) = 27.43, p < .001, R square = .35, Adjusted R Square .34 28 EQ vs Decision Making: F(8) = 51.23, p < .001, R square = .50, Adjusted R Square .49 29 EQ vs Health: F(8) = 16.50, p < .001, R square = .24, Adjusted R Square .23 30 EQ vs Effectiveness: F(8) = 6.62, p < .001, R square = .12, Adjusted R Square .10 31 EQ vs Family: F(8) = 11.65, p < .001, R square = .19, Adjusted R Square .17 32 EQ vs Influence: F(8) = 33.14, p < .001, R square = .39, Adjusted R Square .38 33 EQ vs Career: F(8) = 23.12, p < .001, R square = .31, Adjusted R Square .30
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Emotional intelligence scores can predict all the aspects of performance in this study, but
there is a great deal of variation in the strength of that correlation. The performance factors
most strongly predicted by EQ are Decision Making, Effectiveness, and Influence. These
outcomes are critical to leadership, suggesting that emotional intelligence is most important in
this domain. In short: It appears that leaders who develop greater emotional intelligence are
more likely to succeed (Freedman, Morrison, and Olsson).
5.2 Influence of EI on effective leadership
The purpose of this study34 is to inspect the relationship between EI and effective
leadership. In addition, what is the influence of EI on effective leadership and which of EI
dimensions most explain effective leadership. Study uses different levels of management from
Malaysian companies with self-administrated questionnaire. Data are collected and analysed
by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Effective leadership is one of the most
important factors for organizational performance, where the performance of managerial
leadership contributes highly to the success or the failure of an organization.
Sample
Data for this study collected randomly from 500 senior and middle-level management staff of
the selected telecommunication companies in Malaysia. The data from the self-administered
questionnaire then analyzed using SPSS. The average age of the respondents was 34 years.
62.4% of the respondents were male and the remaining 37.6 % were female. In terms of
position, 57% of the respondents were from the senior level management and 43% were
among the middle level management staff.
Instrument
The independent variable of the study was EI, which consisted of five dimensions namely
self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, social skills and empathy. The 5 dimensions of EI
were measured based on the seven point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7
34 Sarminah Samad Dr., Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia, 2009, The Influence of Emotional Intelligence on Effective Leadership Among Managers in Malaysian Business Organizations
- 38 -
(strongly agree). The reliability coefficient for these dimensions was within the acceptable
and expected value ranging from .81 to .92.
The dependent variable was effective leadership and was measured based on the summative
score of 5 dimensions of effective leadership (challenging the process, inspiring a shared
vision, enabling others to act, modelling the way and encouraging the heart). The study
measured on the seven point Likert scale ranges from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly
agree).
Data analysis
Data obtained in the study, analyzed using SPSS. Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple
regression and t test employed to answer the objectives and hypotheses of the study. Pearson
correlation, used to determine the relationship between EI dimensions and effective
leadership. Multiple regression analysis used, to examine which of the EI dimension most
contributed or explained effective leadership and to examine the amount of variance
explained in effective leadership by EI. Finally, t test employed, to test the difference in EI
between the senior and the middle level of management staff.
Hypothesis
H1: There is a positive and significant relationship between EI and effective leadership,
H2: EI dimensions contribute significantly on effective leadership,
H3: There would be a significant difference of EI score at different management levels.
Outcomes of study
-Relationship between EI and Effective Leadership (HA1)
Table 1 shows the results of the overall means, standard deviations and correlations among
variables of the study. The means ranges from a minimum value of 5.10 (self-awareness) to
maximum value of 5.29 (effective leadership).
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Table 6: Correlation Coefficients for the Main Variables of the Study
Mean Std 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 5.10 1.04 (.87) 2 5.24 1.03 .47* (.81) 3 5.27 .96 .50* .33* (.92) 4 5.15 .90 .51* .52* .62* (.88) 5 5.11 1.10 .48* .49* .56* .50* (.84) 6 5.29 1.16 .45* .54* .69* .41* .58* (.89)
Note N= 500; * p < .05; 1.self-awareness 2.self-regulation 3.motivation 4.social skills 5.empathy 6.effective leadership Cronbach’s coefficients alpha are in parentheses As can be seen in Table 6 the correlation coefficients for the variables under investigation
indicate a positive and significant relationship between EI dimensions (self-awareness, self-
regulation, motivation, social skills and empathy) and effective leadership (p < 0.05). All of
the correlations were in the expected directions indicating a positive and significant
relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. This finding is consistent
with expectations, that there were significant and positive relationship between EI dimensions
and effective leadership. HA1 has support.
-Influence of EI on Effective Leadership (HA2)
The second objective of the study was to examine which of the EI dimensions that most
explain effective leadership. Meanwhile, the third objective was to determine the influence of
EI dimensions on effective leadership. In other words, it determined the amount of variance
explained on effective leadership by EI. Table 6 presents results of the multiple regression
analysis to answer the objective two and three as well as the HA3 of the study. As can be
observed the beta values indicate that all of the EI dimensions had a positive and significant
influence on effective leadership. Specifically, self-awareness (ß = .35), self-regulation,
ß=.41), motivation (ß = .28), social skills (ß = .55), and empathy (ß = .53) were found to have
a significant and positive impact on effective leadership (p< .05). Among all of the EI
dimensions, social skills emerged as the most significant effect on effective leadership. This
shows that social skills appeared as the most important factor to enhance effective leadership
and the aspect that most influenced effective leadership. When the five EI dimensions were
regressed on effective leadership, the R² value found to be .59. This indicates that the EI
dimensions explained 59 % of the variance in effective leadership. The data revealed that all
of the EI dimensions were able to contribute or influence effective leadership. Therefore, this
data provided support for the HA2 of the study and the HA2 of the study was accepted.
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Table 7: Multiple regression of EI on Effective Leadership
Independent
variables Beta T Sig
Self-awareness .35 2.37 .000* Self-regulation .41 1.44 .000* Motivation .28 1.34 .000* Social skills .55 3.74 .000* Empathy .33 3.69 .000* R² = 0.59 F = 15,60 * p < .05
-The Differences in EI at Management Level (HA3)
The fourth objective and HA3 of the study was to determine whether the senior and the
middle level of management staff had distinct levels of EI. As presented in Table 8, a
significant difference in EI between the senior and the middle level of management staff was
detected (p< .05). Data indicate that the senior level management staff scored the highest EI
compared to the middle level of management staff. The results revealed that there is a
significant difference in EI between the senior level and the middle level of management staff.
This finding provided support for HA3 and therefore the HA3 of the study was accepted.
Table 8: T test on Mean Scores of EI by Management Level
Variables N Min SD F Sig
Senior level management 285 14.49 3.27 7.14 .000* Middle level management 215 12.89 2.18 * p < .05 This study examined the contribution of all of the EI dimensions on effective leadership and
identified which of the EI dimension most influence effective leadership. In addition, the
study identified the significant difference of EI between the senior and the middle-level
management staff. The correlation matrix indicated that all of the EI dimensions were
positively related and significantly related to effective leadership. This finding implied that all
of the EI dimensions had significant relationships with effective leadership. The result was in
the hypothesized direction that there was a positive and significant relationship between EI
and effective leadership. The multiple regression analysis revealed that all of the EI
dimensions had a positive and significant effect or influence on effective leadership. The
analysis also revealed that social skills emerged as the dimension that most explained or
influenced the effective leadership. The results of the study therefore supported the hypothesis
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that EI would be able to influence or contribute effective leadership. Data from the analysis
revealed that there was a significant difference between the senior and the middle-level
management staff in EI, where the senior level management staff demonstrated the highest
score in EI.
6. Can a person be highly successful without EI?
Of course, people can be highly successful without emotional intelligence. This is in
context of emotional intelligence measured as ability. The idea that low EI is a mark of failure
comes from the latest popularization of the concept. Emotional intelligence is a discrete and
important part of personality -- but it is far from everything in a person's personality. An
individual's personality is made up of many abilities and many desirable qualities. Just
because a person is high on one does not say much about the likelihood of the person's being
high or low on others. There are a large number of people who are highly effective, but who
lack emotional intelligence. It makes sense that many people lack emotional intelligence.
After all, roughly half the population has to be below average in emotional intelligence.
However, no one would expect that half of the population to be equally unsuccessful -- and
that half of the population certainly isn't all unsuccessful -- in fact, nowhere near it. There are
several reasons that people lower in emotional intelligence can still be highly successful:
Emotional intelligence, though a crucial ability for human beings as a whole, is just one of
human ability among many. A person can employ many other abilities aside from emotional
intelligence. Human beings show an amazing capacity to adapt to their own skills and
preferences in the face of a complex environment. That is, a person will compensate for low
emotional intelligence by building on other strengths. The nature of EI as an ability can be
clarified by understanding that many kinds of effective, successful people may score low on
ability scales of emotional intelligence. On opposite less effective people, may score high on
the test. 35
Examples of Highly Effective Low Scorers on EI It is not unusual to hear people ask -- in response to hearing about a successful person's low
score -- how someone who is so very successful could have scored in such a way. To explain
35 http://www.unh.edu/emotional_intelligence/ei%20Measuring%20EI/eiMeasure%20success%20without%20high%20ei.htm on 27.08.2012
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such an outcome, it helps to begin with the idea that there are many important personality
traits, which potentially contribute to a person's success. Table 9 shows six such personality
traits, including emotional intelligence (as ability).
Hypothetical profiles provided for a series of kinds of people who were highly successful but
often score low on the test.
Table 9: Hypothetical Profiles for Different Kinds of People on Six Personality Traits Including EI
Emotional Intelligence: reasons with and understands emotion
Conscientious: Organize--d, On time, etc.
Technical Skills: cognitively smart, well -trained
Altruistic and Sympathetic: May not understand that much, but really cares about others' well-being
Consid-erate and Polite
Athletic and Attractive
Overall Perception of the Individual
Low High High High High High Very successful
Low Low Low High High High a people person
Low High High Low Medium Medium Effective
Low High High Medium Medium High the best army officer I ever worked with
Low Medium Medium High High Medium the best boss I’ve had
Low High High High High Medium An experienced HR professional
Low High High Low Low High a superb trainer
Low High High Low Low High a great teacher
Low Medium Medium High High Medium Very empathetic
Low High High High High High has it ‘all together’
Put like this, it may seem that functioning without emotional intelligence would be highly
problematic. If we step back, however, it is apparent that if you remove any positive capacity
or quality from personality, something will be sacrificed. For that reason, it is probably fair to
say that emotional intelligence is very important. In addition, at the same time, so are many
other qualities. Since only a very small and fortunate few might have all the positive qualities
desirable in personality, the rest of us must make do with what we have, and work with it as
effectively as possible. Part of working effectively with what is, involves self-knowledge, and
self-knowledge can be enhanced from good psychological assessment, including the use of
psychological tests36.
36 (http://www.unh.edu), searched on 27.08.2012
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7. Limitation related to Emotional Intelligence and
Leadership Main critique when it comes to EI is that it is difficult to define in one sentence and to
present it concisely. Majority of authors also fail to define the important idea of leadership.
Their concept of leadership better fits people understanding of management. The question is
how many executives that have being interviewed in different studies, are real leaders in their
organizations? As the common sense is telling us, the number of real business leaders is
scarce. The leadership definition problem is not new, but it would be much better if authors
made clear distinction between leadership and management and define it. Goleman, in
particular in his study involves general groups of managers and employees as a potential
leaders to be made and how can they acquire and improve EI competencies.
Several theories exist within the paradigm of EI: Theories of Bar-On, theories of
Goleman, theories of Mayer & Salovey. Each theory that is presented tries to further and
better understand the skills, traits and abilities within social and emotional intelligence. Some
researchers claim that the goal of research should be to identify and define a singular
framework that must be accepted as the correct version of EI. Another aspect or approach
would be to acknowledge that more than one theory could better explain the aspects of
complex psychological frameworks (Emmerling, et al., 2003:11). The existence of more than
one framework does not indicate a weakness regarding the principles of EI, but rather points
to the robustness of the field. Having more than one theory is not unique to EI, but applies to
other scientific fields as well. This in no way undermines the validity of the emerging field of
EI. Researchers are not all acknowledging or accepting the fact that EI can be learned or
taught. Some researchers believe that some EI traits impacted or influenced by individual’s
genes. Others, such as Bar-on and Goleman, believes that EI traits can be learned through
experience but without sustained effort and focus the EI capabilities of an individual is
unlikely to increase EI cannot be defined like IQ which has a discrete meaning and is
represented by a single measure. Instead of trying to measure EI in a single way, measuring
should be done in different ways. It is a fact that most effective leaders today possess reserves
of empathy, self-control and other EI capabilities. The question that must be asked is how
these leaders apply these capabilities and the answer is through self-regulation (Klemp,
2005:4). Leaders who possess high levels of EI can also be manipulative, selfish or dishonest.
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Other qualities such as confidence, integrity, drive and wisdom has to be filtered into the
effective leadership paradigm. There has to be a good mixture of the cognitive capacity,
people skills, influence skills and the wisdom that comes through experience to drive effective
leadership.37
Furthermore, the idea that emotionally intelligent people have significant capabilities in two
areas of personal competence and two areas of social competence is not that new. Gardner
(1983) indentified these two competencies as intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence
respectively, so the concept is hardly new. The personal competence areas combined with
social competence areas together give the list of 19 competencies that are defining
emotionally intelligent leaders. If we go back in time in 1950s and 1960s, we can find the
studies that focus on leadership behaviour and that have similar lengthy list of “traits”. All
this looks like some old ideas wrapped in new phrases so that people can understand it them
easily.
Moreover, in the Primal Leadership Model there are six leadership styles presented: visionary,
coaching, affiliate, democratic, pacesetting and commanding. Author thinks that leaders are
able to switch back and fort between these styles depending upon the situation. This kind of
flexibility easily mastered and leaders are able to change behaviours despite their personalities
and their inabilities to accurately, diagnose a variety of situations. Common sense is telling us
that generally people are inflexible in their behaviours patterns and because of their
personalities, which are relatively stable and resistant to change. In addition, there is
scepticism that people can do a very good job diagnosing situations accurately and
determining what they call for in terms of leadership styles. From the subordinate’s point of
view, there is also possible problem of the leader being perceived inconsistent and
unpredictable. Finally there is just suggestion what should be done to become an effective
leader and little to the how to do it in literature.
8. Which is suitable place of EI in leadership?
Emotional intelligence has a situational role to play in leadership. This simply means that
leaders need to be sensitive only when trying to move certain audiences. The bottom line is
37 Cromhout Jaco, The Role and Impact of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) on the Leadership styles of the Systems Integration Management team within T-Systems.
- 45 -
that emotional intelligence is more important for management than leadership. Can a leader
who lacks the innate skills and knowledge to manage his or her emotions and connect with
people be effective? Yes, says this author, even if such a leader is the arrogant and at-times
out-of-control opposite of the typical emotionally mature leader. In fact, such a leader or
potential leader can even be found where an organization would least expect, near the bottom
of the organizational chart. Thanks primarily to Goleman, it is accepted wisdom that leaders
must be emotionally intelligent to be effective. However, this notion is not only wrong; it is
harmful, especially if it blocks certain people from showing leadership, such as those who
might otherwise be great and vitally important leaders. For example, challenging the status
quo is usually a preoccupation of many leaders. We also think of leadership as a relationship
between leaders and followers. Nevertheless, we overlook a more important relationship, the
one between leaders and their target audiences. Thus, leadership can be defined simply as the
successful promotion of new directions. Our conventional concept of leadership ignores the
following inconvenient types of leadership because they fall outside the managerial
framework: * Leadership shown by outsiders such as King, Mandela and Gandhi. * Leading
by example, as when a new customer service employee serves customers more effectively and
colleagues soon begin to follow suit, even though there is no reporting relationship between
any of them, * Leadership between companies, such as Microsoft following the lead of Apple,
* Inspiration from dead leaders, as when present-day activists follow the lead of Gandhi and
practice non-violence, * Sports competitors following the lead of better performers, * Bottom-
up leadership, where a front-line employee, champions new products. All of these leadership
types amount to showing the way to others, nothing more. Second, these types of leadership
have only one thing in common - they move people in a new direction and give us the means
to differentiate leadership from management. This is critical to understanding that emotional
intelligence is critical for management, though not so for leadership. A very different view
suggests that leadership and management are totally style-neutral functions. Leadership,
promotes new directions, management executes them. An inspiring leader moves us to change
direction while an inspiring, transformational, people-oriented manager motivates us to work
harder. Because leadership, so defined, can come from outside the organization or from the
bottom up, it does not entail managing people. Executives who both lead and manage are
wearing a managerial hat when they coach, empower and motivate employees to improve
their performance. When Daniel Goleman and others discuss the place of emotional
intelligence in leadership, they have senior executives or CEOs in mind. Occupying a role
with such heavy responsibility for so many important resources, often including large
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numbers of people does require integrity, emotional intelligence and other sterling character
traits. "One thing is certain: emotional intelligence increases with age. The reality is that our
vision of leadership confuses senior executives with management. Management has a role and
all roles involve responsibilities. Unlike management, however, leadership is not a role.
Initiative or action influences people to change direction. For example, while managers show
leadership when they champion new directions, non-managers can show that same leadership
as well. When people are appointed to management roles, it is often because they have shown
some leadership. In short, emotional intelligence has a situational role to play in leadership.
This simply means that leaders need to be sensitive only when trying to move certain
audiences. The power to lead is increasingly knowledge based and is less about personality
and character. Conversely, emotional intelligence is essential for all managerial roles.38
9. Who are successful EI leaders? Which business leaders are the ultimate examples of Emotional Intelligence? Research was
made, based on Fortune 500 CEOs of American companies. Some of the popular top 10 Chief
Emotions Officers in the U.S. are:
• Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com): With his unusual laugh and self-deprecating style, Bezos
does not sound like a Fortune 500 CEO and that is probably to his benefit. His obsession
with the hearts and minds of his customers and his long-term perspective on relationships
(and business strategy) are legendary.
• Ursula Burns (Xerox): Direct, yet respectful, her assertiveness is matched by a sense
of mission that inspires her employees.
• Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway): "Success in investing doesn't correlate with
IQ once you're above the level of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need
is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble investing."
Intensely loyal and relationship-driven, he asks his CEOs to run their companies as if they
were to own them 100 years from now.
• Indra Nooyi (Pepsi): Nooyi is a conscious capitalist whose "performance with
purpose" agenda has helped move employees from having a job to living a calling. She is
acutely aware that being a woman of color means she may receive more attention and
38 McCrimmon, Mitch. Ivey Business Journal Online (Jan/Feb 2009) WHY EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IS NOT ESSENTIAL FOR LEADERSHIP
- 47 -
scrutiny, but she still projects her personality without reservation -- whether it's singing in
the hallways or walking barefoot in the office.
• John Donahoe (eBay): Donahoe inherited a difficult situation from Meg Whitman
with the need to truly, alter the company's business strategy. Donahoe's disciplined self-
awareness and his listening ability have created a deeply loyal team and a healthy,
evolving culture.
• Alan Mulally (Ford): Walk around Ford's corporate campus and you will see office
cubes featuring handwritten notes that Mulally has sent to employees... praising their
work. Great interpersonal skills and an ability to make you feel like you are the only one
in the room when you are in a conversation with him.
• Howard Schultz (Starbucks): He says that the main reason he came back was "love":
for the company and its people. Very dedicated to generous health care benefits --
inspired by his father losing his health insurance when Schultz was a kid.39
10. Conclusion and recommendations
With this work, I hope that I succeed to present the concept of Emotional Intelligence in
general, made more people aware of it, showed some relevant results and made some
conclusions. Personally, I am interested in the topic of EI for many years now and indeed my
diploma thesis from 2007 was about “The role of the EI in leadership”, so this was natural
next step for me to continue in this direction and to look for more proofs in real world about
this topic.
In order to make the use of EI concept in an organization firstly, there is a need to present it to
leaders and persuade them that they should try to make the use of it. They should learn about
concept, work on themselves and start to improve their relationships with their subordinates.
During this learning process, they might come to some realizations about themselves and
about their workers. They may think of changing their leadership style form being too bossy
to being for instance more democratic. Of course, all of these processes take time and energy,
and to implement this concept for entire organization includes more than personal
39 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chip-conley/the-top-10-emotionallyint_b_911576.html searched on 17.sep.2012.
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commitment. Some people could resist the change and prefer status quo and then everything
is destroyed.
We cannot say that EI is only important for success in business, and that technical and
cognitive ability does not count. They will always remain an important and essential
competency for any individual who strives to be a good leader. To be effective at work
depends on a range of factors. Technical skills in combination with IQ are important, but so
are personality and EI. Many people with a high IQ and strong technical skills under-perform
or fail at work because of aspects of their personality or lack of EI. Recent studies, however,
have found that EI is equally important, and in some cases even doubly important as the
technical and cognitive competencies combined, to drive outstanding performance. They are
doubly important especially on high level of management. Therefore, we can conclude that IQ
and EI are more of a complements, joint forces in action, then separate mutually exclusive
strengths.
EQ is not defined like IQ, which has a discrete meaning and is represented by a single
measure. Instead of trying to measure EQ in a single way, measuring can be done in different
ways. There has to be a good mixture of the cognitive capacity, people skills, influence skills
and the wisdom that comes through experience to drive effective leadership. Therefore, the
interpretation of EI test results is more complicated, cannot be compress in one number, and
needs to be broadly interpreted.
There are numerous studies documenting the relationship between EI and various
aspects of performance. A high correlation appeared between the EI scales and performance
outcomes. This suggests strong positive relationship between EI and performance measures.
The leaders with higher EI had higher performance scores. One study in Middle East showed
that over 58% of the variation in performance among the leaders explained by EI. The top
performers have on average 1,2x higher scores on EI. Especially large % of the variation in
performance predicted by EI is for entrepreneurs. This finding suggests that the skills of EI
are critical for professional success at all levels, and even more critical for those creating new
enterprises.
Leaders can also be highly successful without high level of EI. EI is important part of
person’s personality but it is not everything.
The conclusion about EI in cross cultural context that leaders need to be familiar with
a country’s culture and may incorporate one or more of the components of emotional
intelligence to effectively match the needs of a particular culture, thus leading the
organization towards desired results. Many cross-cultural differences clearly exist between
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countries. Prior research has identified many variances in attitudes across cultures, such as
power-distance (Hofstede, 1997) and time focus (Trompenaars, 1993). Further, studies have
shown that organizational cultures are influenced by national cultures (Hofstede, 1997; Adler,
2002), and the greater the cultural distance between the two countries, the greater the
differences in organizational attributes and practices (Javidan & House, 2002). It is also
useful for organizations to study similarities between cultures and one way to do it is to study
cultural clusters.
People do not change so easily. Their character, habits, behaviours, routine is not
possible to change over night or in short time period. I think it is not possible to adapt
leadership styles to certain situations on the right time and for the right situation. It might
work for certain problems and give some positive effects, but it is not possible to solve all
problems with one move. Of course, everybody likes to work in better, relaxed atmosphere
with no stress and with tolerant superiors, but this suitable in every situation. Changing
leadership styles according to business needs, becoming emotionally intelligent leader,
strengthening EI competencies and learning new one requires altogether strong
implementation. I think implementation of EI model and learning of EI competencies is a
weak point in general in literature. I am not convinced that there is clear path, direction or
guidance that can guarantee success in implementation of EI concept on personal or
organizational level. It should be more of an individual path for each individual, each
situation and each organisation to implement EI with success. People with experience on job,
successful in building networks and strongly motivated have good chance to succeed by using
EI as a main tool in business. Most of all, I think they need the strong motivation to do it. It is
long lasting process of learning and it could be exhausting for leaders to continue. Question is
do they have enough time to work on improvement of their skills and is there some kind of
incentive to push them toward goal. It must not be money incentive, as we it as business
students assume, it could be some kind of satisfaction or imaginary reward. It depends on
leader’s wishes, dreams and goals. Anyway, strong personal motive should be driver toward
implementation of EI. After finishing this work, and when I was once more collecting my
thoughts about conclusion and my recommendation about this topic, which I at the beginning
found very exiting and challenging, I found myself more at the side of critiques of EI then as
a promoter of the idea of EI. The main reason could be that I could not find enough evidence
in reality that support the implementation of EI and that the whole theory and studies are not
enough for me to say that EI is so great idea.
- 50 -
Nevertheless, we need to remember that resent studies are showing, that the emotional
intelligence accounts for significant difference on top level of management. Moreover, to
conclude that Emotional Intelligence (EI) dimensions were able to influence effective
leadership, where 59% of variance in effective leadership was explained by EI.
- 51 -
11. List of References
Boyatzis Richard E. and Annie McKee: “Resonant Leadership”: Renewing Yourself and
Connecting with Others Through Mindfulness, Hope, and Compassion, Publisher: Harvard
Business Review Press; 1 edition (October 27, 2005), ISBN-10: 1591395631
Colfax, Richard S.; Rivera, John J.; Perez, Karri T. “Applying Emotional Intelligence (EQ-I)
in the Workplace”: Vital to Global Business Success Academic journal article from Journal
of International Business Research, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2010.
Cromhout Jaco, “The Role and Impact of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) on the Leadership
styles of the Systems Integration Management team within T-Systems”, 2009, A thesis
presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business
Administration at the University of Stellenbosch
Freedman Joshua, Jayne Morrison, and Andreas Olsson: “Leadership Success and Emotional
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12. Appendix 1: Abstract in Deutsch
Das Hauptziel dieser Studie ist es, die Beziehung zwischen emotionaler Intelligenz und
Führung, und die Beziehung zwischen EI und organisatorische Leistung zu zeigen. Neben der
Präsentation wichtigste Konzept, Messung und die Techniken der EI, ich wollte auch
herausfinden, wie die Realität in diesem Zusammenhang sieht. Zwei gute Beispiele zeigen,
dass es eine starke und positive Korrelation zwischen EI und Führung gibt. EI erhöht
organisatorischen Leistungen wie Gewinn, Umsatz und ROI. Auf der anderen Seite gibt es
keine einheitlichen Theorie, die EI und ihre Wirkungen erklärt, es gibt mehr als einen
Wahrheit darüber. Wir können nicht EI in nur einer Zahl ausdrücken, als ob wir es von IQ tun
können; Interpretation des Ergebnisses ist komplizierter und unübersichtlich. Dennoch kann
EI positiv auf Führer, ihre Untergebenen und die gesamte Organisation zu beeinflussen. Ich
denke, dass EI mehr ist dann guter Start in die Durchführung von Änderungen und motivieren
von Menschen in einer Organisation, dann eher eine allgemeine Lösung für alle Probleme und
Situationen, die auftreten können. Auf Gegenteil, es gibt einige Einschränkungen beim EI
Konzept. Zunächst sieht es aus wie ein paar alte Ideen in neue Sätze verpackt in modernen EI
Theorie verwendet werden. Zweitens, viele Autoren haben nicht die Idee von Führung richtig
definiert, und wir wissen, dass die Anzahl der Marktführer knapp ist. Schließlich glauben
viele Autoren, dass Führungskräfte Flexibilität haben, und verschiedene Führungsstile
benutzen konnen, aber wir wissen, dass Menschen in ihrer Natur unflexibel und resistent
gegen Veränderungen sind im Verhalten, aufgrund ihrer stabilen Persönlichkeit.
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13. Appendix 2: Curriculum Vitae
LEBENSLAUF Angaben zur Person
Đokić Branimir, Dipl.-Oec., MSc geboren am 29.03.1976 in Visoko, Bosnien-Herzegowina Anschrift: Schüttelstrasse 87/31 1020 Wien, Österreich
Tel. 0650 4678 242 E-Mail: [email protected]
Ausbildung mit Abschluss 2008-2012 Master of Science (MSc), Spezialisierung in Industrielles Management und International Marketing, an der Uni Wien, Fakultät für Wirtschaftswissenschaften, Institut für Betriebswirtschaftslehre 2003-2007 Diplomierte Wirtschaftswissenschaftler, Hochschulabschluss, Studiengang Betriebswirtschaftslehre, Fachrichtung Marketing, an der Wirtschaftfakultät in Sarajevo, Uni Sarajevo, B&H. 1996-1999 Kaufmann; Diplom der Fachhochschule für Management, kaufmännische Fachrichtung, an der Wirtschaftfakultät in Sarajewo, Uni Sarajevo, B&H 1990-1994 Maschinenbautechniker, HTL: Reifezeugnis der Berufschule B&H. Ausbildung ohne Abschluss 2007- Doktoratsstudium der Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften. Betriebswirtschaft Sprachkenntnisse Bosnisch/Serbisch/Kroatisch - Muttersprache Englisch - fliessend Deutsch - fliessend Berufserfahrung 2002 -2003 Referent für Datenverarbeitung, Sekretariat der Wahlkommission B&H, Sarajevo. Arbeit in der Abteilung für Wählen per Post: EDV, Wähler- und Partei Registration. Arbeit im Hauptwahlstab der Wahlkommission an Implementierung der Wahlresultate. 2002 -2003 Aufseher der Druckvorbereitung und des Druckes der Wahlzettel in der Druckerei Alamy Nyomada in Ungarn, Budapest. Sekretariat der Wahlkommission. 1996-1998 Assistent des Hauptlogistikers / Transport Manager, Unithed Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR): Programm für das ehem. Jugoslawien/UNHCR Programme
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der Rückkehr und des Wiederaufbaus, Zentrales Büro Sarajevo. Koordinierung und Allokation der Fahrzeugnutzung. Aufseher der Fahrer in der Region Sarajevo, Verwaltung der Unfallberichte, wartung der Kommunikation von VH und HF Basisdadiostation. 1995-1996 Welfare Beamter, Kanadisches 3. Batallion des Königlichen 22e Regiments Kampfeinheit, UNPROFOR / UN in Visoko B&H. Meine Aufgaben bezogen sich auf allgemeine Hilfeleistung und Unterstützung des Welfare Offiziers bei der Durchführung der Welfare Aktivitäten. Soziale und organisatorische Fähigkeiten und Kompetenzen Gute Teamfähigkeit und Teamleitung durch Projektarbeiten im Bereich International Marketing und Industrielles Management an der Uni Wien. Offenheit und Verständnis für fremde Kulturen und Religionen. Guter Umgang mit stressigen Situationen. Generalist mit strategischen, analytischen und selbständigen Denkweise. Meine sozialen Kompetenzen wie Empathie, Teamarbeit und Relationship-Management, zusammen mit meinen Personal-Kompetencen wie Selbstkontrole, Transparenz und Flexibilität zählen zu meinen grossen Stärken. Computerkenntnisse Gute Kenntnisse in allen Office-Dokumenten und SPSS Auswertung. Führerschein Klasse B seit 1997 Interesse Sport, Musik, Lesen, Psychologie und Gesundheit. Als angehender Magister der Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften, mit Spezialisierungen in Internationalles Marketing und Industrielles Management sehe ich mich durchaus befähigt, für eine Position in den Bereichen Gross- und Einzelhandel, sowie auch in Produktion, Logistik, Autoindustrie und Service. Ich bin bereit, meine erworbenen teoretischen Kenntnissen sowie praktische Erfahrung einzubringen. Daruberhinaus, möchte ich meine Kentnisse und Fähigkeiten durch Weiterbildungs- und Trainingsmassnahmen ständig erweitern.